Turkey 'neutralises' 1028 terrorists in Syria's Afrin

Nebenzia told reporters at U.N. headquarters in NY he was not expecting a statement from the council, which would require consensus among the 15 members including the United States. "That's not realistic", Ford said.

His colleagues in the northern province of Idlib had treated more than a dozen cases of civilians falling ill due to a suspected chlorine attack on the city of Saraqeb.

However, in a posting on Twitter, Mustefa Bali, spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces dominated by the YPG, said a helicopter had been hit in the Rajo area of northwest Afrin, near the Turkish border.

In a letter addressed to the United Nations secretary general, the Syrian foreign ministry said the attack "represents a war crime and a crime against humanity".

Nauert's statement also references recent reports of chemical weapons allegedly used by the regime against rebel strongholds.

Four days of intense Syrian government strikes on a besieged rebel-held area outside Damascus are reported to have killed more than 200 civilians.

The attack came just hours after Israel said one of its military jets was shot down in Syria.

Diplomats said it was unclear whether Russian Federation would use its veto to block the new draft resolution.

The death toll mounted steadily throughout Thursday, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights giving 75 civilians dead by the evening.

In Eastern Ghouta, the surge in attacks has coincided with the sharp rise in violence in Idlib.

The Israeli air force said it has air sorties against more than 100 Syrian arms convoys and vehicles belonging to Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Assad's forces, since the Syrian Civil War began more than six years ago.

The Turkish rulers aim to drive the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) out of Afrin and deal blows to the Kurds' fight for national rights across the region. "Eastern Ghouta is experiencing a Middle Ages-style siege". The campaign followed Ankara's promises to "strangle" the new Border Security Force (BSF) in Syria.

The office of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it was "following closely the alarming military escalation throughout Syria and the risky spillover across its borders".

Relations have also been strained by Washington's failure to extradite a US -based Muslim cleric blamed by Turkey for a failed coup attempt against Erdogan in 2016.

All throughout Syria, except in areas firmly under the government's control, the violence has escalated precipitously.

YPG is the main fighting force of the USA -backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which played a key role in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State terror group in the region.

Moscow has repeatedly blocked action in the council that would put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As of Sunday, at least 14 Turkish troops have also been reported killed in the fighting.

Rescue teams rushed to Jisreen and pulled three children and a woman out of the rubble.

Ankara Two Turkish Armed Forces personnel were killed when an attack helicopter crashed in northwestern Syria's Afrin during the ongoing Operation Olive Branch on February 10, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said, Hurryiet reports. Two of them were aboard a Turkish attack helicopter that crashed while on a mission over Afrin.

Turkey has justified its military operation calling the YPG a terrorist organization.

SANA labeled it an "aggression" and a "new massacre".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier confirmed the downing of the helicopter, according to Turkish media.

The Turkish president also invited Rouhani to the Istanbul meeting on the Syria conflict.

"What is happening in eastern Ghouta is not simply a humanitarian crisis because aid is denied".

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